


The Children

by Clara_Parlato



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Adopted Children, Adoption, Gen, Lance Adopts Pretty Much Everyone, Lance is a good dad, Older Lance, Originally Posted on Tumblr, past lance/lotor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-07
Updated: 2019-02-07
Packaged: 2019-10-23 18:41:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17688809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Clara_Parlato/pseuds/Clara_Parlato
Summary: Wherever the father goes, you can find the children nearby.





	The Children

Shiro was in the middle of a date with who he was almost certain was the love of his life when he received the call. One look at the number sent his heart in a frenzy. Getting a call from the hospital was never a good thing. Jumbled thoughts and deductions ran inside his head as he excused himself and ran to the bathroom of the café.

It all came to a stop when he heard what happened.

His thoughts.

His heart.

All he could hear was Adam’s worried voice through the stall’s door.

Door that he opened in one hasty movement, words immediately leaving his mouth as soon as his eyes found Adam’s.

“I’m sorry, but I need to go. My dad is in the hospital.”

Adam didn’t miss a beat, offering to drive them there, already taking out his wallet to pay for the bill while telling Shiro to grab their things and wait on the car.

Love of his life, for sure.

* * *

Takashi Shirogane Moreno doesn’t remember much of his parents. He was too young when they died, leaving him to go to an orphanage. Life in the orphanage wasn’t hard, but far from pleasant. It wasn’t the orphanage itself, a rather small but cozy building, or the people who worked there, sweet adults who tried their best to keep the kids comfortable and healthy. It was the children. Both inside and outside of the orphanage. Inside, they had trust and abandonment issues, hurt and anger swirling together to a point none knew where one started and the other ended. His brother by consideration, Keith, was the prime example of it. Outside, the children liked to either mess or pity the orphans. That Griffin kid made Shiro angry like never before.

Another bad thing was how most adults couldn’t seem to understand that children were not toys to return if you don’t like them. Out of ten children that left, at least seven would return a few weeks later, issues even worse than before. Also, the older the child, smaller the likelihood of being adopted. Adults liked blank canvas.

Years passed and Shiro was already ten when he finally was adopted. Everyone thought he’d be adopted faster, for he was one of the few “good” children, but he had made clear—by being returned more than once—that he’d only be adopted if Keith were to go with him, and no one wanted the trouble child.

No one except that tall man with dark skin and blue eyes.

As Shiro sits there and watches the man softly scold Keith for being reckless, the boy can say for sure that he doesn’t mind not having memories of his parents. He’ll forever keep the image of his dad inside his heart.

* * *

Keith was tinkering with his bike when he received Shiro’s message. They had a group chat named The Children, an old joke from a time their dad had to deal with an ex. Now, Keith usually would leave the text to answer later, but he had a bad feeling earlier that day and it hadn’t gone away, no matter how much he dismantled and build up again his motorbike. So he grabbed his phone quickly, anxiety skyrocketing.

Soon he was the one rising, stuffing his cellphone in a random pocket and mounting his bike.

Destination?

The hospital.

* * *

“And they must be the children.”

“Yes, Lotor, they are children. Stop looking at them like they killed your cat.”

Keith Kogane Moreno doesn’t like Lotor. Keith doesn’t like a lot of people, but Lotor is on the top five of the list and they’ve known each other for  _two minutes_. Keith feels Shiro’s hand on his in what most would think it’s a show of comfort, but the boy know better. It’s a way to hold him back if he tries anything impulsive. Which he totally was about to, by the way, because Lotor is  _pissing him off._

The way he talks, the way he stares at his dad like he owns Lotor something, the way he sneers down to them, the way his ugly face makes their neighbor Hunk tear up and cling to his dad’s leg.

_Lotor is pissing Keith off._

“Don’t you have a company to terrorize? Shoo, go away, leave to never return.”

“I have a proposition for you.”

“I have to buy things for dinner, so scram.”

“I’m sure you’ll want to hear it.”

“I’m sure I don’t want to hear it even if the Pope himself was telling me it. Now go away before I let Keith break your kneecaps.”

Keith smirks. He has the best dad ever.

Lotor opens his mouth to say something, but closes it right after. Maybe it is the glares of both the children and the parent combined that makes him see reason, maybe he isn’t as stupid and Keith thought. With a huff, the man turns around and walks away. Keith lets out a squeak as his dad puts him on his shoulders and hands to him one of those jumpy balls.

It hits Lotor right on the head.

“Sorry!” Oh, dad isn’t sorry at all, “The children, am I right?”

Keith giggles.

Best. Dad. Ever.

* * *

Hunk was cooking a storm with his moms when the text arrives. Who hears it is one of his moms, who handed him his phone with a worried look. Hunk immediately knew something wasn’t right. Only one person was allowed to interrupt him when he’s in the zone, everybody knows that. So for someone else to do so, something had to be wrong.

Hunk wished he were the one wrong.

“Mom, can you take me to the hospital?”

He wished.

* * *

“This is delicious, Hunk!”

“Thanks, Shiro.”

Hunk Garrett had been a bit hesitant about going to his neighbor’s house after the man adopted the boys, but now he could say with confidence that they are great friends. Shiro is very friendly and once you gain Keith’s respect, friendship is a step away.

Their dad had been taking care of him since he was in diapers, with his mothers being very busy with the restaurant. Hunk knows the house by heart and the man who lives in it. The man with bluest blue eyes and shining smile, who accepted, supported and guided the boy, and still does. And probably always will.

“Hunk will be a great chef when he grows up! I know it!”

“Thanks, dad.”

Silence.

“Oh! I-I’m so so sorry! I—!”

“You can call him dad too, we don’t mind.” Hunk hears Keith assure, but all he can do is look at the warm eyes of his neighbor.

“We sure don’t.”

Hunk cries in the man’s arms for a good five minutes, squished between Keith and Shiro, until the doorbell chimes and the Holts join their lunch. Hunk never really missed having a dad, he didn’t meet his so no memories weighted on his heart. But it sure feels nice to have one.

* * *

Taping.

“Matt.”

More taping.

“Yeah?”

“Hospital. Now.”

The taping stopped suddenly, an unfamiliar silence engulfing the room.

“Why?”

“Him.”

“Say no more.”

There was no time to turn off all the computers.

* * *

The Holts are a good family. Loving parents and good children. The problem is that the parents are always busy. Which means the children spend a lot of time with nannies, which wouldn’t be a problem if the nannies weren’t hated by the youngest, Katie. And does Katie know how to make someone’s life hell.

Matt is desperate at this point, because he really can’t take care of his little sister now that he’s so close to high school. And he doesn’t want to let her alone because the same way she can make someone’s life hell, she can make  _her own life_  hell by neglecting herself.

“I just don’t know what to do! And it’s not even entirely her fault, the nannies just can’t seem to adapt to her!”

“Ok, this might sound weird, but you can always leave her with my dad.”

“You’re right, sounds weird.”

“Worth a try, though.”

“You’re under the impression your dad can solve anything.”

“Until now he hasn’t let me down.”

“And what do I say? ‘Hey, mister Moreno, I’m Matt Holt, Shiro’s best friend, and I know we just met, but can you take care of my little sister while I study my ass off?’”

“It would be my pleasure.”

Matt has only seen Shiro’s dad a handful of times, but he’s always surprised by how tall he is and how large his shoulders are. And how strong yet slim he looks. Honestly, that man looks like he can break down a door and then pose for a magazine. If you ask Matt what exactly happened between his first time actually talking to Mr. Moreno and the lunch he and his sister had in said man’s house, surrounded by three boys and a really pretty girl, he will tell you he’s not sure himself.

All he knows is that Pidge (that’s how she liked to be called by most people) wants to go back sometime soon.

* * *

“Allura? Dear?”

“Yes, Uncle Coran?”

“Would you like me to drive you to the hospital?”

Allura stared at her trembling hands. No way she’d be able to drive safely.

“Please.”

If it sounded more like a sob than a word, no one commented.

* * *

Allura Altean is a smart young lady. By the age of fourteen, her future is brighter than most, and she makes sure it stays that way by giving her best always. She prides herself on her intelligence, knowing that the years of work are paying off. But she still can’t understand what would make someone kill a couple and then leave without looking back. She can’t understand how someone can cause an accident so bad and not stay to help.

She can’t understand that type of monster.

“Sometimes, people are horrible. But that doesn’t mean all people are horrible.”

But she can understand the soothing voice of the man hugging her. She can understand his warmth and his affection.

The man is a family friend, someone Allura had seen before in parties and dinners, an old friend of her father, Alfor. Before the accident, the girl knew very little of the man. He was tall, with deep blue eyes and dark skin, and, accordingly to her father, had too many kids but only two were his.

Then Allura found out that the man had an enormous heart, for he traveled from his home to stay with her and her uncle, completely throwing away a chance to have a whole vacation with his family and friends to help the two Altean in their time of need.

And he doesn’t stop surprising her with his compassion and gentle understanding. He is incredibly wise, just like her uncle, but he shows it mostly in a very subtle way, through jokes and gestures. Nevertheless, everyone around him seems to understand. She has the pleasure of knowing all the people who had their lives changed by this sublime man.

“Allura, don’t ever believe that people are purely bad or good. Unless you have proof, give everyone the benefit of doubt. Otherwise you’ll cling to your hate, and that is not good for anyone. Do you understand me, little princess?”

The only people Allura allows to use that nickname are family. She smiles, cuddling closer to the man that had given her a second family.

“Yes, papa Lance.”

* * *

“Allura!”

“How is he?”

There was no time to lose. Their father was in one of the rooms inside a dreadfully white building, hurt and maybe in pain. Niceties would be put aside for the moment.

With all The Children reunited, Shiro asked the doctor to explain to them what had exactly happened. The reactions were as expected. Shoulders sagging in relief and breaths being released. They smiled at each other, Keith asking the doctor if they could see the man who raised them, in more ways than one.

“Ah, yes, Mr. Moreno is open to visitation… Are all of you going in?”

They exchanged looks.

“Yes, well.” Matt chuckled. “We are the children.”

The doctor, an old gentleman who’d taken care of them all before, threw his head back and laughed loudly.

Yes, wherever the father goes, you can find the children nearby.

* * *

“I don’t believe you! Really, dad? You supposedly fight a war, but a bookshelf put you in the hospital?”

“Oh, shut up, mullet child, I’m too old for your bitching.”


End file.
